Hallo All!
On Wednesday, I took a train up to the ‘little’ town of Bendigo. This is the third largest city in Victoria, so I put little in quotes… because it was much bigger than I anticipated. Anyway, it was a quick trip with Matt and I driving back on Saturday morning. Bendigo gets its roots from a reawakening of the gold rush in the late 1930’s when two women found some gold while they were washing their laundry in the creek just west of town. They digging begun and the second largest output of gold in Australia history proceeded over the next 20 years or so. Lots and Lots of gold. I took Thursday as an ‘instant gratification day’ as my friend Abby coined after she moved to Seattle. I slept in until 8. I know… sleeping in until 8… BIG DEAL! Well, when you work at 6 in the morning and get up at 5, 8 IS a big deal. Then I went to a day spa and got a lovely 60 minute massage… it was WONDERFUL! The therapist is an American who moved here 31 years ago as a teacher. She and her husband got permanent residence visas as long as they taught for at least one year to help Australia bring their education standards up to international levels. We had lots to talk about and chatted away the whole time. I still felt incredibly relaxed and plan on going back to the Spa in the future for more. J Then off to the city for some shopping and wandering.
The center of town has some beautiful parkland and old, classic stone architecture dominating the sky line. The shopkeepers all proved to be Aussie-style friendly and very informative about the area. One of the gourmet shops told me that more than one of the local, old school farmers are convinced that the drought is over. Several of the folks here in Melbourne have talked about this being the wettest winter they remember for at least the last ten years and one of the coldest in years. So that was good news. I heard about a paper craft store so I wandered that direction to find some paper. J After chatting with the clerk there, I realize that I should have kept my card stock instead of giving it all away… Oh well. Found lots of inspiring items at the shop and then headed back to meet Matt for dinner. The food in Bendigo was really fantastic. J We had Italian, Chinese and good ‘ole Mexican. That’s right, we found some decent Mexican in town for dinner on Wednesday. One yummy Tequila Sunrise and a Margarita later… I was quite happy to sleep in again the next day. When the maid knocked on the door I was surprised to see I slept in until 10! So I hurriedly got up, dressed and headed out toward the mine. I took at 2 ½ hour tour of the Central Deborah Gold Mine. The best part of the tour was the fact that it was me, the tour guide and a volunteer who had to tag along because they only let groups of three or more down into the mine at a time. Some kind of safety thing. I didn’t care, I was digging for gold! The tour included level 2 and 3 of the 17 level mine and the tour guide was incredibly educated about the geology and history of the mine. I learned a lot… more than I can really articulate in an email because hands on is so much better! Again, another profession that is NOT my cup of tea because after about 5 minutes of sifting through a pile of rubble, I was ready for lunch. I did get a demonstration of the conditions the early miners had which was two candles that lasted 4 hours each. In an 8 hour shift, they could only have one lit at a time to last the whole day. I don’t know how anyone finds gold specks with a single candle shedding the light. I about went blind. Much less, how they managed to not go insane working day in and day out for 10 schillings a day in the dark, cold, musty confines of the mine. Lunch was my first taste of a pastie. We get asked for pasties all the time at the bakery and I had no idea what they were until now. It is a meat and three veg (peas, corn and carrots) wrapped up in a filo pastry shell with the seam on the top scrunched together like the edge of a pie crust. It was quite nice actually and the tour guide claimed that the crusty bit along the top was a ‘ handle’ so the miners, whose hands were covered in arsenic and other toxic compounds, could hold the pastie by the handle, eat all around it and chuck out the handle when they were done without consuming the small amounts of arsenic that build up in the body to kill you. Not that there weren’t a dozen other things that could kill you in the mining business… rocks falling on your head, loss of oxygen, pneumonia, getting lost… you get the idea right? In the years this particular mine was in full operation they only had one death and that guy went down the shaft before his work buddy was ready and ended up getting crushed by falling rock. Oops… The early bird doesn’t get the worm that time! Well, I had a great time, would do it again in a heart beat and if you ever visit this neck of the woods, I recommend you get off the beaten-in every tour guide book- path and make the short journey up to Bendigo for a few days. Between folklore, shopping, spas and the wines I didn’t get to explore… there is a little of something for everyone I think. J
I went to a little bakery called The Beechworth Bakery and had a ‘lemon slice’ for a snack on the way back from the mine. It was very tasty and I picked up a recipe or two in their cookbook. Hallie… I know you wanted me to learn one thing while I am here… and I have done it! I have a recipe for sausage rolls. And YUCK! I don’t know why your are interested/obsessed by them, but it is now in my capable hands. I’ll give it a try and then I’ll send you my notes on the recipe… it is all in metric by the way. J
I have to share the commercial I just saw on TV while I was working on this email… It starts showing all of the bronze, beautiful people on some of the famous beaches here in Australia, then poses the question of “What happened to us, Australia?” then shows some shots of fat people lounging on the beach and on the couch and goes on to say. “We have become one of the fat-est developed nations in the world.” They show lots of stats about how many Australians are obese and that 1 in 4 kids are obese, the amount of money obesity is causing (remember they are on public healthcare here…) etc. Wow. What a statement!
Sorry… had to tell you about that one. J Saturday, we drove back to Melbourne and it dawned on me just how flat the Melbourne area is compared to the rest of Victoria. We headed to the Collingwood footy game that evening and watched Collingwood make fools of themselves against Brisbane. They lost miserably by 93 points. Then on Sunday it was Matt’s sisters’ birthday and we met up with all of Matt’s family at his Mum’s house for afternoon tea… Remember, that afternoon tea means eating and drinking to some degree...You just never know if it will be a whole meal or just a snacky type thing. I have learned to love Champaign because we have some just about every time we meet up with Matt’s Mum for anything… which is just about weekly. Kate had a lot left over from her wedding, so we are making the sacrifice of chipping away at the stockpile one bottle at a time. Matt and I gave Kate a necklace that Julia made. Matt picked it out from her website and I picked it up while in Hawaii on my way here. It was a huge success and Julia now has lots of Australian admirers of her work. J It was a fun gathering with his family but it made me awfully homesick. I miss my friends and family back home lots and lots now. Not that I wasn’t before, but just watching his family all interact together, made me miss home. So I ate graham crackers and American marshmallows when I got home and will probably have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. J
Sorry I don’t really have any pictures from this trip… hopefully next time.
Take care all of you, and enjoy some summer sunshine for me. I am tired of the chill of winter! L
Cheers,
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